At the beginning with you
by UniqueFandoms
Summary: An injury takes away Sara's dream and brings her and Derek back in Chicago where their faith and love in their dreams and each other are tested once more.
1. About Save the last dance

lll[pppppppppppppp _"The only thing you have to be .... is yourself."_

Sara's life is devoted to dance - she wants nothing more than to make it into New York's famous Juilliard School. But when tragedy strikes and she loses her mom, her hopes are dashed and she buries her dreams of ever attending the country's best dance school.

Without her Mom to support her, Sara moves to the tough streets of Chicago's South side to live with her Dad - a down on his luck jazz musician who she barely knows. Her new school's a totally different world from the small town she grew up in, but Sara's quick comebacks and sassy attitude earn her the quick respect and friendship of straight-talking Chenille. But it's Chenille's brother, Derek, the cool and good-looking star of the school, who grabs Sara's attention. He plays it up tough, but he also has the smarts and a plan to go to medical school.

When Chenille takes Sara to Steppes, the neighborhood hang, she gets her first taste of hip-hop - and Derek's the one to show her the moves. When they discover they share a passion for dance, they discover that there's something deeper going on - a passion for each other. But they soon find out the hard way that they must not only overcome their own differences, but the resentment and bad blood of their friends and family. As the school year goes on, the couple finds that their affection and devotion to each other could ultimately threaten Derek's hopes for a better life and Sara's rediscovery of her dance.

Yet against all the odds they overcome the obstacles to their dreams, and discover that ultimately the only person you have to be is . . . yourself. 


	2. The Injury

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_We were strangers starting out on our journey_   
_Never dreaming what we'd have to go through_   
_Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing_   
_At the beginning with you_

_No one told me I was going to find you_   
_Unexpected what you did to my heart_   
_When I lost hope you were there to remind me_   
_This is the start_

_Life is a road and I want to keep going_   
_Love is a river I want to keep flowing_   
_Life is a road now and forever_   
_Wonderful journey_

_I'll be there when the world stops turning_   
_I'll be there when the storm is through_   
_In the end I wanna be standing_   
_At the beginning with you_

_We were strangers on a crazy adventure_   
_Never dreaming how our dreams would come true_   
_Now here we stand unafraid of the future_   
_At the beginning with you_

_Life is a road and I want to keep going_   
_Love is a river I want to keep flowing_   
_Life is a road now and forever_   
_Wonderful journey_

_I knew there was somebody somewhere_   
_Like me alone in the dark_   
_Now I know my dream will live on_   
_I've been waiting so long_   
_Nothing's gonna tear us apart_

_Life is a road and I want to keep going_   
_Love is a river I want to keep flowing_   
_Life is a road now and forever_   
_Wonderful journey_

_Life is a road and I wanna keep going_   
_Love is a river I wanna keep going on_   
_Starting out on our journey_   
_Life is a road and I wanna keep going_   
_Love is a river I wanna keep flowing_   
_In the end I wanna be standing at the beginning with you_

  
  


"Hey Sara." 

Sara looked up from the thick paperback book she was reading and smiled when she saw the face of Carol Henley. 

Carol Henley was Sara's best friend, well at least in Julliard, outside of Julliard Sara's best friend was Chenille; Sara had met Carol on her first day in Julliard, Carol had been there a week already, and the two had instantly hit it off. Carol had lived in the small town of Montana almost her whole life but when she turned 13 she had been moved to New York City when her father had gotten a job offer; Sara had instantly shared a bond with Carol, considering how she had to live in Chicago after her mom died. 

"Hey Carol, what's up?" Sara questioned as she put the book down beside her, paying her full attention to Carol. 

"This is up." Carol pulled a piece of paper, with a list of names on them. "Our first play is coming up..." Carol's voice trailed off as she sat down next to Sara, a big grin plastered on her face. 

Sara nodded, letting her eyes focus on the paper Carol was holding, a piece of paper that foretold everything she wanted to know. This was what Sara had been waiting for ever since she walked foot into Julliard, to be able to perform in front of a crowd, to show everyone what she was made of. "Well? Am I on the list?" 

Carol's smile grew even wider. "Lead. You're the lead! Sara you did it!" Carol screamed, grinning. 

Sara closed her eyes as she let Carol's words sink in, she let the words soak into her brain, she envisioned herself on a stage in the most beautiful costume, dancing... dancing in front of tons of people, tons of cheering people. Cheering for her, cheering for her talent, a talent she had worked so hard on last year; Sara opened her eyes, and let out a scream escape her lips. "Oh my god!" 

Carol leaned over and hugged Sara, smiling big for her friend. "You did it! They picked you out of everybody and all you say is oh my god?" Carol questioned jokingly. "I am so happy for you Sara." 

"Oh my god." Sara muttered underneath her breath, still not allowing herself to believe that this was true. "I have to call Derek." Sara said suddenly, pushing herself up from her bed. 

"Huh?" Carol asked, confused. "I thought we were going to celebrate you getting the lead." 

"We are." Sara said, nodding her head a bit. "But I have to call Derek first." 

"He's all the way in Washington Sara, you don't even have the money to call him and plus he might be like cutting someone up." Carol said, scrunching her nose up, for effect. 

Sara rolled her eyes and she grabbed a phone card. "That is why I'm using a phone card and I'll guess I'll just have to take the chance won't I?" Sara smiled and ran out of the dorm room she shared with Carol. 

Carol nodded, but pushed herself up. "Hey that's my phone card!"   


"Is Derek there?" Sara twisted the phone cord around her finger as she awaited Johnny, Derek's roommate, to answer her. 

"Yo Sara, how's it going? Haven't heard from you in a while." Johnny said, as he lounged himself on Derek's bed. 

"Been real busy with all these auditions." Sara answered, leaning herself against the wall. 

"Ah, and how are those auditions going?" Johnny looked up when the door to his and Derek's dorm room open up. 

"Great! I got the lead Johnny in our first play, which is why I'm calling, is Derek there?" Sara asked, her eyes hold an anxious look in them. 

"Yeah, he just walked in, here he is." Johnny threw the cordless phone right when Derek walked in.   


Derek dropped his backpack and all his books in order to catch the cordless phone Johnny threw to him, Derek cast Johnny a look as he walked over to the desk in the dorm room. 

"Sara." Johnny stated, picking up a magazine and flipped through it. "She just got the lead in their first play."   


"You got the lead?" Derek questioned, turning his attention to the phone and away from Johnny. 

"I got the lead!" Sara screamed into the phone, getting some attention from the other students. 

Derek smiled, laughing into the phone. "Oh my god that's great Sara! I knew you could do it, what did I tell you? I told you all you had to do was to believe in yourself and you could do anything you want, you could be whatever you want to be." 

Sara smiled. "I'm here because of you Derek, you made this all possible." 

Derek shook his head. "Sara _you _made this possible, you just needed a little push and I was there to give it to you. I'm so proud of you, and right now I bet your mom is too." 

Sara's smile faded away. "You think?" 

"I know. When is it? Maybe I can come." Derek held the phone with one hand as he picked up his agenda book. 

"Wednesday, 5 pm." Sara replied, her heart pounding extremely hard. 

Derek open the agenda book to Wednesday and frowned when he saw an appointment penciled on for 5 pm. It was the day he was taking his tests, Derek closed the book. "I can't make it. I have testing to do on Wednesday at 5 pm, I've already re-scheldued once, I can't do it twice, I am so sorry Sara." 

Sara dropped her eyes, grateful that she was on phone instead of person with Derek, because being on the phone with them gave her the ability to look incredibly sad and not having to worry about Derek's reaction to her sadness. "It's okay, I just wanted to tell you, to hear your voice. Good luck on your tests, although I know that you don't need that luck, you'll ace it." 

Derek frowned when he heard the disappointment in Sara's voice. "Thanks. I wish I could come but if I pass this test I'm closer to what I want to be." 

"I understand, you better call me once you ace that test." Sara said, forcing a smile. 

"I will." Derek said, throwing his agenda book on his bed. 

"I got to go, Carol wants to take me out to celebrate." Sara said, turning to Carol, who was tapping her foot impatiently. 

"Okay, look call me after the play, tell me how it went." Derek replied, saddened that their conversation was ending so quickly. 

"I will, again good luck, bye." Sara sighed and hung up the phone sadly.   


"So?" Johnny questioned, as he watched Derek sit down on one of their beds with a dejected look on his face. 

"Her play is on Wednesday at 5, the exact day and time my testing is scheldued." Derek replied, draping his arm over his face. 

"There are other plays, go to those." Johnny said, reading a magazine article. 

"Not as important as this one, she's got her first lead in her first play, and I can't be there." Derek said, grumbling. 

"That are how long distance relationships work, I told you a million times that they are just too damn complicated, you should just quit and find another girl, a girl who will make your life a whole less complicated." Johnny stated, his eyes glued to the article. 

"I can't, I won't. There isn't another girl like Sara, until you've fallen in love, you won't understand. Me and Sara have been through a lot, a lot of bad shit back in Chicago and we overcame all of it, you just don't give up on something like that." Derek replied, sitting up and staring at Johnny. 

Johnny looked up from his magazine and rolled his eyes. "If it's another white ballerina you want, I bet that there are tons of them out there, and some of them might even live in Washington. Why are you gonna put your neck out there to keep a relationship with a girl that is nowhere near you?" 

Derek groaned. "It's not about the color of her skin or what she does that makes me love her, I just love her, everything about her. I got this same shit back in Chicago, you don't choose who you fall in love with ... it just doesn't work that way." 

Johnny sighed. "Whatever floats your boat man."   


"So?" Carol asked, as her and Sara made their way out of the school. 

"He can't make it, he has testing." Sara replied, she waved her hand for a taxi. 

Carol shook her head, sighing. "I know you love him and all, but how can you put up with this? You guys haven't seen each other since the day you both left Chicago, half the time you two are too busy to call each and when you do you guys talk about stuff the other one doesn't understand, try to tell each other inside jokes that they weren't there to listen to so one of you don't understand the joke. He's going to miss your first play, your most important play, and it's just not about that... you're in love with a guy you never see, how does that make you happy?" 

Sara got into the taxi and told the driver where to go, she then turned to face Carol. "Love's not supposed to be easy, no one, and I mean _no one _understands me like Derek does. He taught me that the only person I have to be is myself, the reason I am here today is because he pushed me to rediscover my dreams, I would be nowhere without him, so don't you dare ask me how I put up with it. We overcame a lot of obstacles in Chicago, and we'll do the same now, it doesn't matter that he can't make it, all that matters is that he loves me and that I love him back. Some people go through their whole lives never experiencing love, I'm 18 and I have experienced it, and experiencing love... I am not letting it go, okay Carol?" 

Carol nodded. "Okay, I got it Sara, don't blow up on me."   


**[ Wednesday, 5 pm - The Play ]******

Sara could feel the knots welling up in her stomach as she awaited the cue for her to come in, she couldn't rid the feeling that something was going to happen, something bad, she felt it the whole way in the taxi ride back to Julliard, and now the feeling was even stronger. The only time Sara felt this terrified was when she had been notified that her mother had died in a car crash, the same feelings she felt back then were creeping up in her body, and it was making her a nervous wreck. Carol, on the way back to Julliard, had already commented on how nervous Sara looked, but Sara had passed it off as a little case of cold feet before her debut in the play, but now, of course now, Sara knew it was more. The feeling was unbearable, she could feel a few droplets of sweat trickle down her face, she pushed them away, noticing for the first time that her hands were trembling.

What was she so afraid of? She was ready for this, she had been ready her whole life, she should have nothing to worry about, but she could feel the signs that something bad was going to happen. She had called Derek in the taxi but Johnny had said that Derek was still doing his tests, Sara couldn't pinpoint where these feelings were coming from.

"Sara, you're up." The director of the play hissed, motioning for Sara to go onto the stage as elegant as she could.

Sara gulped down her fear and entered the stage, she could feel everyone watching her... everyone's eyes were on her, except one pair of eyes weren't there...

Derek wasn't there.

Sara already knew he couldn't show up but now seeing with her own eyes that he was at the play, sitting amongst the audience, Sara felt raging disappointment and fear enter her body, she closed her eyes and let herself get lost in the music, but the fact that Derek wasn't there wouldn't go away.

Sara felt herself getting picked up by her dance partner, she opened her eyes and glanced down at Fredericko, she gave him a glance and tried to keep a hold onto his arms, as he twirled her around. For some reason Sara couldn't let herself trust Fredericko; Sara looked past Fredericko and saw a big black cord, she turned to Fredericko to warn him but before she could Fredericko had tripped over the cord and sent them both flying to the ground.

***Snap***

That was when Sara felt the incredible pain shoot up her foot and rise up throughout her whole leg, she let out a scream, when she tried to move it. It hurt like hell, she could hardly move it, Sara saw all kind of people running up to her and Fredericko to see if they were okay. Sara reached her hand over when she saw Roy come running to her side.

"Baby, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Roy asked, his voice in a quickened state.

Sara shook her head quickly. "I think I broke it." Sara said indicating to her foot, which had swollen up a bit in the last minute.

Roy looked down at her foot and frowned when he saw that Sara's foot look like it had gotten twisted half way around. "Medics!" Roy screamed, his voice in a scared tone. "Where are the damn medics, just hold on Sara."

Sara closed her eyes, as the medics come running over to her. 


	3. Going Home

Sara opened her eyes slowly, only to have them be invited by the blinding sunlight, Sara brought her hand up to her eyes and used her hand as a shield against the sunlight. Sara shifted in the hospital bed, but once she did so she felt a pain shoot up her left leg, she looked down and saw it was in a cast. Sara closed her eyes as she remembered what happened, she had been dancing in the play and Federicko had tripped over the black cord that had been carelessly laid out in the middle of the stage, they had both fallen down, but she had fallen down the wrong way on her foot, she had felt it snap and then she had screamed at the raging pain. 

"You're awake." Roy said quietly, as he made his way over to Sara. 

Sara nodded, opening her eyes back up, she forced a smile, despite what her body was feeling. "It's broken isn't it?" 

Roy nodded sadly, the doctors had told him that the foot was indeed broken, and even when it healed that Sara's dancing would never be the same, there would always be a bit of pain in that foot of Sara's. "I'm so sorry." 

Sara felt hot tears prick at her eyes, no this couldn't be happening... she had worked so hard to get where she was and she was back where she was last year in Chicago, nowhere. "Will I be able to dance again?" Sara asked. 

Roy stared back at his daughter, not wanting to tell her the news that her dancing would never be the same, that there would always be pain in that foot of hers, that her dreams were being destroyed because of one damn cord. "The doctors said when your broken foot is healed that it won't be able to function the way it used to be, your dancing won't be the same." 

Sara nodded slowly, trying her hardest not to cry; _your dancing won't be the same. _Those words had felt like a deliberate slap to the face, her dream of becoming a dancer were being destroyed because some jerk had left the cord in the middle of the stage and Federicko had tripped on it. "No..." Sara whimpered as the tears escaped out of her eyes. 

Dancing was what she wanted to do ever since she was a little girl, dancing was what her mother had supported her in no matter what, dancing was her link to her mom, and to herself, and now she could never dance the same way. What did that mean anyways? They might as well say that she could never dance again, instead of trying to sugarcoat what was happening to her. 

"I am so sorry baby, I know how much you wanted to be a dancer..." Roy hugged Sara and surprisingly she let him, he held her body tight to his as she cried. 

This wasn't fair, Sara wanted to scream, but she couldn't get past the crying, _this wasn't fair _kept repeating in her brain, why was this happening to her? She had everything she wanted, she had her dream and Derek and now she had nothing... 

_Derek._

Sara cried even harder thinking what his reaction would be when she told him about the injury and how she couldn't dance again, Sara didn't want to hear the sorrow in his voice, she wouldn't be able to stand it, she would break down. Sara tightened her grip on Roy, not feeling this sort of warmth since her mom died, Sara had tried to deny Roy, to deny that she loved him, but she did. They had gotten close after she left Chicago, she had given him a chance to be a dad and he had excelled at it, he even came to Julliard to see her first play, Sara cried some more as she thought of the play. That was supposed to be her popular debut but instead it had been the end of her career, what would she do now? She couldn't possibly stay at Julliard and not dance, where would she go? 

_Chicago._

Sara knew that was where she was going to go back to, it was the only place to go, the only place she could call home now. Sara had learned to call Chicago home, she had friends there... IE: Chenille, Snooky... but she also had enemies ... IE: Nikki. But right now Sara didn't care about Nikki, she didn't care about the small apartment she would be greeted with in a few days, all she cared about was that she had lost something, something that had meant the world to her, and now she felt like a lost little girl. She felt like a little girl that wanted her mommy, except her mommy was nowhere to be found, so Sara would take the next best thing, she would take her dad. She no longer called him Roy, well she occasionally did, but she mostly called him dad, it sounded good calling him that, it had taken a while but now she was used to it. 

"Can we go home?" Sara said softy, shocked that she could find her voice through all the tears. 

Roy pulled away and stared at Sara, he finally nodded. "Yeah we can." Roy said as he grabbed the bag Carol had given him on the way to the hospital. "Yeah we can." Roy repeated himself. 

Roy knew that Sara was hurting, but he didn't know what else to say, he was still learning how to be a dad, he was just glad that she wanted to come home, to come home with him, that she would call his apartment, Chicago, home. Roy helped Sara out of the hospital bed, and cast another apolgetic look to his daughter. 

"Don't." Sara snapped. "Stop staring at me like I'm glass, I'm not going to break." Sara said holding onto Roy. 

Roy nodded and guided her into the wheelchair, and rolled her out of her hospital room. "I don't know what to do, what to say, I'm trying but I --- I just keep wanting to say sorry, hoping that maybe if I say sorry enough times, that you'll get better." 

Sara would have usually laughed at something that naive, but instead it made her want to cry, to cry forever and never stop, but no more tears right now, she would let the tears create a river once they got home, but right now she wanted to be strong. "Face it Roy, I'm broken, and there is nothing you, or I, can do about it. It doesn't matter how many times you say you're sorry, it doesn't take back the fact that my dream is gone." 

Roy nodded sadly and signed Sara out and rolled her out of the hospital. "What should I say then?" 

Sara pushed herself up once they stopped in front of Roy's car. "Right now, nothing. I just need silence." 

Roy nodded to himself and helped Sara in the car and shut her door, he then walked over to his side of the car and got in, and shut the door too, he started the car up and drove off, in silence. He knew Sara wasn't ready to talk about the injury or actually going home, so right now he would allow Sara that silence.

"So do you still live in that apartment?" Sara asked, looking out the window.

Roy nodded."Yep, and your room is the exact way you left it."

Sara squinted her eyes. "Oh great." Sara said sarcastically.

"Look, I know that you're not happy about coming back, and I wish there was a way for me to rewind time and make this all go away for you, but I can't. All I can do is be here for you and tell you that time will heal that broken foot." Roy said softly.

Sara shook her head. "Time may heal the broken feet, but what about my heart? You can still play jazz, I can't still dance, so until you know how it feels to have your dream yanked away from don't act like you're an expert on how I feel."

Roy nodded and the drive home was in silence, Roy would occasionally look over at Sara, but all he would catch was the side of her face, considering her eyes were glued to the window of the car.   


**[ Back in Chicago ]******

"Okay, we're here." Roy stated as he pulled the car in front of his apartment. "Sara?"

Sara popped her head up. "I heard you." Sara walked out of the car, bringing her bag with her.

"Let me get that." Roy grabbed Sara's bag and walked up the long stairs that led to his apartment.

Sara watched Roy walk up the stairs, she watched him put the bag down and then run back down stairs, he wrapped his arm around and helped her up the stairs

"I didn't have the time to clean up, with having to fly to Julliard to see your play, well anyways, there's your room, just like you left it." Roy said, putting Sara'a bag to the side.

"Thanks." Sara hopped over to her room. "I'm going to get some sleep okay?"

Roy nodded and watched Sara close the sliding doors to her room.   


Sara sighed, and sat down on the floor of the room, taking in a deep breath. Roy was right, not a thing had changed since she left this room, well except now there was a phone in the room, Sara leaned over and grabbed the phone.   


Derek ran over to the phone, dropping his books. "Hello?"

Sara closed her eyes at the sound of Derek's voice. "Derek?"

Derek smiled instantly. "Hey you, how was the play?" Derek sat down on his bed.

"Not so good..." Sara started but then her voice trailed off, not knowing how to break this to Derek, how she could possibly tell him what happened without breaking down.

Derek frowned. "What happened?"

Sara took in a deep breath. "There was this cord in the middle of the stage, Federicko tripped on it and we both fell."

Derek's eyes widened. "Are you okay?"

Sara sighed. "I broke my foot. The doctors said it will heal with time, but the pain will always be there, and that my dancing will never be the same, they just should say that I can never dance again, they should try to stop sugarcoating it."

Derek's face dropped. "Oh my god Sara, that's awful. Where are you now?"

"Back in Chicago living with my dad. Had nowhere else to go, I obviously couldn't stay at Julliard, so here I am. Look it's not that a big of a deal, how was your tests?" Sara said, trying to change the subject.

Derek shook his head. "Not that big of a deal? You broke your foot Sara, it's a big deal, a real big deal."

Sara took a breath. "What the hell am I supposed to do about it? I can't make the injury go away! I can't just say 'injury go away' and have it be gone! I can't change the fact that I am not going to dance again, I can't make the pain go away!"

Derek sighed. "But ignoring this isn't going to make it go away either. I can come down in two days, can you hold on until then?"

Sara nodded. "Yeah..."

Derek took in a deep breath. "Okay, I'll see you in two days, I love you Sara."

Sara let a soft smile play with her features. "I love you too." 


End file.
